Jam release for cigarette dispenser



M y W7 vv. BEHA ETAL 3,322,302

JAM RELEASE FOR CIGARETTE DISPENSER Filed Jan. 18, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 15 j 50 M {3K1 \52 JNVENTORS WALTER BEHA By WILHELM BENDER ATTORNEYS May30, 1967 w. BEHA ETAL 3,322,302

JAM RELEASE FOR CIGARETTE DISPENSER Filed Jan. 18, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2JNVENTORS WALTER BEHA BY WILHELM BENDER MM M ATTORNEYS United StatesPatent OfiFice 3,3225% Patented May 39, 1967 This invention relates toautomatic cigarette dispensers of the magazine type such as shown inRott et al. US. Patent No. 2,936,930. More particularly, the presentinvention is directed to an improvement in the cigarette dispenser ofthe Rott et al. patent and whereby a cigarette entering a trough in alongitudinally inclined position or in a transverse position relative tothe trough will not be jammed and damaged by operation of the dispenserto drop the cigarette into the holding claw for movement into engagementwith the electric igniter.

The operation of the cigarette dispenser to which the present inventionis directed is fully shown and described in the above-mentioned Rott etal. patent, and reference is made thereto for description of theconstruction and operation of parts of the cigarette dispenser notdirectly related to the improvement of the present invention.

Thus, in the embodiment of the cigarette dispenser shown in FIGS. 1through 11 of the No. 2,936,930, the dispenser includes a magazinechamber ing outwardly of a housing G. The pushbutton 2 may be manuallyoperated so as to be pushed inwardly through an opening in the housingG, and is mounted on a pusher rod 3. The push button has a lateralgroove 2a into which 32 may enter during a predeter- 3 is pushedinwardly by manual operation of the button 2. This angular lever 11 isformed to engage the face 13 of a slider 9 so that the slider 9 is movedfrom the left toward the right horizontally, as viewed from the front ofthe dispenser, and beneath hinged bottom plates .Z'il and 51 of themagazine chamber 1, responsive to pushing the button 2. Slider 9 isform-ed with a downwardly extending lug 25 which, together with thedownwardly extending edge portion of an inclined closure plate 15, formsa trough 25. The bottom of this trough is formed by a fixed sheet member19 having a downwardly extending portion 21 carrying the pivot pin 20 ofthe angular lever 11. The lowermost cigarette Z of the cigarette supplyin the magazine chamber 1 is disposed in trough 25 before the dispenseris put in operation.

The bottom plates 59 and 51 of the magazine chamber 1 are movable up anddown in mutually opposite directions. This oscillatory motion of thebottom plates serves the purpose of preventing the formation of mutualbracing or edging of the cigarettes in the magazine chamber 1, thussecuring a reliable discharge of only one cigarette at a time. When therod 3 is pushed inwardly by manual operation of push button 2, theslider 9 moves toward the right, as viewed from the front of thedispenser, until a portion thereof abuts against a pivoted pawl. Thisdisplacement of slider 9 entrains closure sheet 15 which lifts bottomtime, slider 9 pushes against an angular member 52 pivotally connectedwith the bottom plate 51. This turns member 52 about its pivot inopposition to the force of the spring 53 so that the bottom plate 51 isforced downwardly. The movement of plate 51 is limited in bothdirections, by means of a guiding slot 54 and a guide pin 55 near thefront edge of bottom plate 5 1.

The upwardly rotating bottom plate 5t and the downwardly rotating bottomplate 51 cooperate to move the cigarettes in magazlne chamber 1 againsteach other to preserve the necessary mobility of the individualcigarettes so that edging and clogging of the cigarette supply isprevented. The cigarette Z displaced from sheet member 19 transverselyto the cigarette axis,

of slider 9 during movement of the slider toward the right. The claw 4has a bottom piece 26 guided in a longitudinal slot 27 of trough 28 andwhich, in addition to forming a guide for claw 4, also serves to preventthe edging of the cigarette when dropping into the claw.

The aforementioned operations occur during a portion of the inwardmovement of pusher rod 3 responsive to manual actuation of push-button2. As described in the further inward movement of pusher rod 3, thecigarette is clamped in the claw 4 and is moved rearwardly intoengagement with an electrically energized cigarette igniter which isenergized responsive no useful purpose.

The present invention is particularly directed to those parts of thecigarette dispenser of the Rott et al. patent the invention, it has beenfound that occasionally a cigaand thus into the will occupy a slanted,inclined, or transverse position relative to the bottom of the trough,rather than lying in a horizontal position on the bottom of the trough.A cigarette in such an inclined or transverse position will be jammedand damaged by the bottom plates 50 and 51 when the gap therebetween isclosed. The situation can be corrected only by re-opening the housing ofthe cigarette dispenser and removing the damaged cigarette.

An object of the present engagement with a cigarette in the inclinedposition in the trough, and as the bottom plates move in opposeddirections to close the gap therebetween, so as not to damage suchcigarette.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide such one bottomplate of the cigarette magazine with a spring biased downwardlyextending wall which, upon return of the bottom plates to their inactiveposition, will serve to move a cigarette, having an inclined ortransverse position relative to the trough, back into the cigarettemagazine.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improvement in thecigarette dispenser shown in the Rott et al. Patent No. 2,936,930whereby the construction thereof is improved and simplified in such amanner that jamming and damaging of cigarettes falling into an inclinedor transverse position in the trough will be prevented.

For an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference ismade to the following description of a typical embodiment thereof asillustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the frontal portion of a cigarette dispenserembodying the present invention, partly in section and with the frontwall being removed, the parts being shown in the rest position;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but illustrating the position of theparts when a cigarette has been discharged into a transport trough; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the improved bottom plate of thecigarette magazine, in accordance with the invention.

In the drawings, only those parts of the Rott et al. cigarette dispenserare illustrated which are directly related to the improvement of thepresent invention.

As mentioned above, the cigarette dispenser includes a cigarettemagazine chamber 1 including normally downwardly and inwardly slopingbottom plates 50 and 51. Bottom plate 51 is formed with a downwardlyextending angular extension 60, and the corresponding member in the Rottet al. patent is fixed relative to the plate 51 as by being formedintegrally therewith. The plate 50 and 51 are linked to the side wallsof magazine chamber 1, and the upward and downward motions of the bottomplates serve the purpose of preventing the formation of mutual bracingor edging of the cigarettes in magazine chamber 1 so as to secure areliable discharge of only one cigarette at a time.

When slider 9 moves toward the right, as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2, itentrains closure sheet 15 and moves this closure sheet to the right.This lifts bottom plate 59, closing the gap between bottom plates 50 and51. At the same time, the depending edge of closure sheet 15 moves thecigarette in trough 25 toward the right on sheet 19. Simultaneously,slider 9 engages within a recess of an angular member 52 which ispivotally connected with the bottom plate 51. The engagement of slider 9with member 52 turns member 52 about its pivot in opposition to the biasof a spring 53, so that bottom plate 51 is forced downwardly. Thismovement of plate 51 is limited, in both directions, by means of aguiding slot 54 in guide pin 55 which is near the front edge of bottomplate 51.

The upwardly and downwardly rotating bottom plates 50 and 51 cooperateto move the cigarettes in magazine chamber 1 against each other topreserve the necessary mobility of the individual cigarettes so thatedging and clogging of the cigarette supply is prevented. The cigarettedisplaced from sheet member 19 transversely to the cigarette axis dropsinto a holding claw 4 and it is then transported to the igniter, all asdescribed in Rott et al. Patent No. 2,936,930.

Referring to FIG. 3, the angular extension 60 of bottom plate 51 ishingedly connected to the bottom plate at hinges 61 and 62, and isbiased to the position shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 by a coil spring 63. Aspreviously mentioned, it sometimes happens that a cigarette, such as thecigarette Z of FIGS. 1 and 2, will fall into trough 25' so that it is atan inclined or transverse position with respect to the horizontalsurface 19. If wall 60 were rigid, upon closing of the gap between theplates 50 and 51, this cigarette Z would be jammed and damaged. Thiswould require removal of the cover of the dispenser in order to obtainaccess to magazine chamber 1 to remove the damaged cigarette Z With thepresent improvement in the Rott et al. cigarette dispenser, such jammingand damaging of the cigarette is prevented in a simple and securemanner. When a cigarette, such as cigarette Z falls in an inclined ortransverse position into the gap between the two bottom plates 50 and51, the relative motion of these two plates in closing the gaptherebetween will cause the spring biased hinged member 60 to be swungback about its hinges 61 and 62 so that the cigarette will not bedamaged despite its disoriented position. As bottom plates 50 and 51return into their initial position, as shown in FIG. 1, the inclinedlypositioned cigarette Z will be forced back into the cigarette magazine 1by the spring bias on depending member 60. Consequently, the necessityfor removing the cover of the cigarette dispenser to remove a damagedcigarette is obviated.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed in detail, to illustrate the application of the principles ofthe invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodiedotherwise without departing from such principles.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cigarette dispenser having a cigarette magazine chamberincluding first and second bottom walls pivotally suspended adjacenttheir outer edges and sloping downwardly and. inwardly toward each othernormally to define a gap between their inner edges having a widthsufficient to permit one cigarette at a time to fall into asubstantially horizontal trough from which it may be displaced laterallyinto a reciprocable claw for transport to an igniter and delivery, whenignited, to an access opening in the dispenser; the first bottom wallbeing swung upwardly and the second bottom wall being swung downwardly,during such displacement of the cigarette from the trough, tosubstantially close the gap therebetween to an extent suflicient toprevent movement of a cigarette from said chamber into the gap, toprevent mutual bracing or edging of the cigarettes in the magazinechamber; one of said walls having an extension extending downwardly fromthe inner edge of its cigarette support surface and forming part of themeans defining the gap, the extension and the inner edge of the otherwall, during closing of the gap, crushing any cigarette extendingtransversely or inclinedly of the trough into the gap: the improvementcomprising means mounting said extension of the innner edge of said onewall for displacement outwardly relative to said gap only uponengagement with a cigarette projecting from said trough into said gap,said means operating said extension to force a jammed cigarette out ofthe gap into the trough upon return of said bottom wall portions totheir normal positions.

2. In a cigarette dispenser, the improvement claimed in claim 1, inwhich said means includes means biasing said extension inwardly relativeto said gap.

3. In a cigarette dispenser, the improvement claimed in claim 1, inwhich said means hingedly connects said extension to the inner edge ofthe cigarette support surface of said one wall.

4. In a cigarette dispenser, the improvement claimed in claim 3, inwhich said means includes means biasing said extension to a limitingposition in which it extends at a predetermined angle from said supportsurface and defines one edge of said gap.

5 5. In a cigarette dispenser, the improvement claimed in claim 3, inwhich said extension is mounted on said second bottom wall.

6. In a cigarette dispenser, the improvement claimed in claim 5, inwhich said means includes means biasing 5 said extension to a limitingposition in which it extends at a predetermined angle from said secondwall and defines one edge of said gap.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Danubio 221-205 X Copeland221-205 X Mayer 221147 Rott et a1. 221--15 ROBERT B. REEVES, PrimaryExaminer. STANLEY H. TOLLBERG, Examiner.

1. IN A CIGARETTE DISPENSER HAVING A CIGARETTE MAGAZINE CHAMBERINCLUDING FIRST AND SECOND BOTTOM WALLS PIVOTALLY SUSPENDED ADJACENTTHEIR OUTER EDGES AND SLOPING DOWWARDLY AND INWARDLY TOWARD EACH OTHERNORMALLY TO DEFINE A GAP BETWEEN THEIR INNER EDGES HAVING A WIDTHSUFFICIENT TO PERMIT ONE CIGARETTE AT A TIME TO FALL INTO ASUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL TROUGH FROM WHICH IT MAY BE DISPLACED LATERALLYINTO A RECIPROCABLE CLAW FOR TRANSPORT TO AN IGNITER AND DELIVERY, WHENIGNITED, TO AN ACCESS OPENING IN THE DISPENSER; THE FIRST BOTTOM WALLBEING SWUNG UPWARDLY AND THE SECOND BOTTOM WALL BEING SWUNG DOWNWARDLY,DURING SUCH DISPLACEMENT OF THE CIGARETTE FROM THE TROUGH, TOSUBSTANTIALLY CLOSE THE GAP THEREBETWEEN TO AN EXTENT SUFFICIENT TOPREVENT MOVEMENT OF A CIGARETTE FROM SAID CHAMBER INTO THE GAP, TOPREVENT MUTUAL BRACING OR EDGING OF THE CIGARETTES IN THE MAGAZINECHAMBER ; ONE OF SAID WALLS HAVING AN EXTENSION EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY